Slowly, the Snow Bear youth's eyelids fluttered before finally opening completely. The first thing he saw was the gaps in the lush foliage above him, then his gaze slowly focused on the faces of two strangers he did not know at all.
The youth became completely shocked when he realized that his body no longer felt any stinging or pain.
With a swift movement driven by the remnants of panic, he sat upright and immediately looked at his stomach. He felt his skin and found his body smooth again without the slightest open wound. Only his torn leather clothes soaked in drying blood served as proof that the fatal slash was not a dream.
"Did... did the two of you save me?" asked the Snow Bear youth in a hoarse voice, his hands constantly feeling his completely healed body with a look of disbelief.
"He is the one who healed you." answered Wolvin in a calm tone while holding the shoulder of his husband standing beside him. The Night Wolf youth looked into the eyes of the still confused beastfolk. "What exactly happened to you in there that you were so severely injured?"
Hearing that question, the youth's bad memories instantly returned. His face tensed.
"Deep in the forest there, I was hunting wild animals with my comrades as usual." answered the youth in a trembling tone, then turned his head toward the dark depths of the forest. "But suddenly, we were attacked by a group of armed men. They surrounded us without warning and intended to kidnap us alive."
"A group of men?" repeated Calian, his eyes narrowing slightly as he pieced together the puzzle from the information. "Are they humans or another race?"
"They are humans!" answered the youth again, his hands clenching tightly grasping the dirt. "But, they are all very strong and organized. Even our strength as a beastfolk race from a fighter clan was unable to penetrate their defenses and defeat them."
Calian nodded in understanding that the attackers were not ordinary bandits, but rather a professional slave hunter group specially trained to subdue non human races.
"What a coincidence." said Calian in a flat yet reassuring tone. "The two of us came here to investigate the cases of attacks and missing hunters that frequently occur in this forest at the request of the Sellon City adventurer guild."
Knowing that the two remarkable people who had saved him from the brink of death were official adventurers, a spark of hope instantly appeared in the Snow Bear youth's eyes.
"I beg you, please save my comrades!" pleaded the Snow Bear youth in a desperate tone. "I am sure they are definitely still there and are struggling to hold off that human group's attacks!"
"Okay, we will help your comrades." answered Calian without the slightest hesitation. "Now, since you are already healed, head back to the city! Report this exact incident along with the location to the guild and the gate guard soldiers. The two of us will head into the forest immediately to take care of them."
The youth nodded in understanding then immediately stood up. Profound gratitude radiated from his eyes. He bowed his head deeply to take his leave from Calian and Wolvin, before finally turning around and running as fast as possible to leave the forest to return to the city to seek official reinforcements.
Not wanting to waste time, the married couple continued their steps, following the trail of blood and broken tree branches to enter deeper into the forest.
After a few minutes of walking through the dense forest, the two of them heard the metallic clanking of clashing swords followed by angry shouts.
"It seems we are close to the battle location, Wolvin."
"You are right, Darling!" replied Wolvin. His gaze instantly turned very cold and serious, radiating a deadly predator aura ready to pounce on its prey. "Let's go there!"
With weapons ready in hand, Calian and Wolvin hurried to run toward the direction the sound of the battle originated from.
From a distance, behind the lush bushes, an open area in the middle of the forest could be seen. A fierce battle between three beastfolk from the Snow Bear clan who were still holding out against a dozen fully armed humans was underway. Around the area, there were four other beastfolk already lying on the ground with quite severe injuries.
The strength of the two sides looked very unbalanced. The humans were using a formation to corner the three Snow Bears who were starting to tire.
Calian observed the situation with an analytical gaze, then turned to his spouse.
"Wolvin, I leave the cleanup of this group to you." said Calian in a calm tone as if he were giving a daily routine instruction. "I will walk casually approaching you while watching over and protecting you from a distance."
"Okay, Darling!" answered Wolvin without hesitation, completely trusting his husband.
Gripping his beloved black dagger tightly in a reverse grip, he began to blend in with the shadows of the trees.
"I'll go!" whispered Wolvin.
Whoosh!
Like an invisible gust of wind, Wolvin used a high-level stealth movement technique and ran very fast toward the battle area. At the same time, Calian stepped out of the bushes, walking casually while observing the surrounding area and the movements of all his enemies.
The threat of death came without warning, haunting the humans without a single person realizing it.
Slash! Thud!
One human standing in the back row of the formation suddenly collapsed to the ground with a very precise slash wound on his neck, even before he had a chance to register the pain.
Slash!
A second deadly slash was launched a second later. Blood splattered into the air, and another human fell.
The incident that occurred so rapidly caused the human group's formation to fall apart. Both the human group and the three cornered beastfolk were completely shocked by the sudden collapse of several humans without the perpetrator being seen.
"What happened?!" exclaimed one of the humans who seemed to be the squad leader, his eyes widening in shock mixed with horror upon seeing his comrades fall bathed in blood. "Who is attacking us?! Be on guard!"
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Instead of getting an answer, the armed humans began to collapse one by one with fatal wounds in their vital areas, completely unable to track who had attacked them with such unreasonable speed.
Panic spread quickly. In less than half a minute, only four humans were left standing upright with bodies trembling in fear, swinging their swords blindly in all directions.
"Wolvin, don't kill the rest!" exclaimed Calian suddenly, his calm voice cutting through the panic in the battle area. "Just incapacitate the four of them for us to interrogate!"
Hearing a man's voice calling out, the remaining humans turned toward the source of the sound. They saw a purple-haired youth walking casually toward them, as if he were taking a stroll in a city park.
However, before they had a chance to react or aim their weapons at the purple-haired youth, a black shadow dashed among them.
Thud!
Wolvin used the blunt end of his dagger hilt, striking the napes and nerve points of the four humans with lightning speed. One by one, the four humans collapsed unconscious on the ground in the blink of an eye.
The battle ended as quickly as it began. The three Snow Bear beastfolk who were still holding their weapons while panting heavily could only stand frozen as statues. They truly could not believe it when they saw the dozen strong humans who had cornered them earlier had now been defeated so easily without being detected.
Once Calian arrived in the middle of the battlefield, Wolvin canceled his stealth mode and stood upright, immediately revealing himself in front of the three beastfolk.
The eyes of the three Snow Bears widened. They never expected that the figure who had saved them and defeated all those humans in an instant was a youth from the Night Wolf clan, a fighter clan famous for being extremely deadly.
"W-Who are you people exactly?" asked one of the Snow Bear clan members, his voice trembling between relief and awe.
"The two of us are just adventurers asked by the guild to investigate the disturbance in this forest." answered Calian casually.
The purple-haired youth then crouched down beside one of the unconscious humans, lifting the man's shirt collar to look for specific tattoos or noble crests. "Are they really the ones who have been carrying out consecutive attacks in this forest, making the city residents feel anxious?"
"I-I do not know for sure if they are the ones who attacked other hunters." answered the beastfolk again while lowering his weapon. "But what is certain is, we were suddenly ambushed and attacked by them while we were hunting here!"
"One of your comrades who managed to escape said that you were going to be kidnapped alive." chimed in Wolvin while flicking the remaining blood off his dagger before sheathing it again. "Is that true?"
"Yeah, that's true. They did not use lethal attacks on us at all, but rather tried to tie us up. They themselves laughed and said that our selling price as fighter slaves would be extremely high." answered the beastfolk in a furious tone, before his face returned to a worried look. "Wait, you said our comrade... is our comrade who managed to escape alright? He took a very severe sword slash to his stomach!"
"Rest assured, I have completely healed his wounds without leaving a trace." answered Calian while standing up and clapping his hands. "He is safe right now. I already told him to return to the city as quickly as possible to report this incident to the soldiers and also the guild."